Help: Middle Career Crises

Job interviewers have this fixation that you only learned stuff at school, and your employment thereafter never taught you anything. I was still being asked the same questions 30 years after leaving school/university. Put up with it, but make sure you make the point that you *now* know a lot of relevant stuff.

Seems likely to me that the interviewers are not finding enough in your experience to evaluate you, and are trying to find some reason to consider you by looking at your education. Don't knock it (well, I guess it's not so good if your classes were not relevant and/yor your grades were less than stellar).

You might want to have a pro look over your resume- perhaps it does not adequately convey your actual experience and achievements. It should cost less than $500 and may turn out to be a very good investment.

I don't know what things are like 'in the vicinity where [you] live', but I have found pickings slim for good folks with 5-10 years of experience. There are lots of (not so good) applicants, but the few good ones are snapped up quickly, and can even play potential employers off against each other.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

The interview is vitally important, assuming you get that far. The panel generally have a fair idea of whether they think you're going to fit in at the end of it, regardless of all the formal rating and stuff that goes on afterwards. If you're going to get some help, consider including interview style. If you really do have marketable qualities, then presenting them effectively can boost your chances heaps, and little faux-pas-es can sink you very fast.

I don't know what might be wrong with it, but at that point in my career I still thought that the "only one page on your resume rule" still held

-- it doesn't. To your one-page "objectives, education and interest" resume that you left college with, you should probably figure on adding between and inch and two inches of resume for every year you've been working, with a maximum of two and a half or three pages.

Remember, use "I" a lot, and try to stress what you were responsible for (i.e., if all you say is "my team did this" and "my team did that", then if I read your resume I'd think "and you were in a quiet corner doing exactly what?"). If "your team" did something big and you did one corner of it, then say "I did (this small thing) that helped my team accomplish (this big objective)".

And if you have any circuit boards to your credit, bring schematics. Or better yet -- bare boards. Nothing says "I did something real" like showing some real thing you did. Be ready for a design review, though.

I've been through times like that, on the hiring side of the table. It can be frustrating as hell, particularly when there's folks coming through that are obviously good, but not a good fit for the company you're in.

Maybe not as frustrating as it is for the guys on the other side of the table -- but still.

I graduated 30 years before you and still get asked about GPA. The first time I thought it was pretty funny (I don't even remember). One company wanted a copy of my diploma. I have no idea where it is, "Don't you check references?"

Or looking for "resume enhancement".

Agreed. If what he's doing isn't working, it's time to change something. A professional can help.

Yes, the big question is where he lives. In many places there is slim pickings. Others aren't quite hot but not too bad. I would never limit myself to one geographic area, if I wanted the dream job.

Your IP address implies you are in the Dallas, TX metropolitan area. Is this correct?

Michael

Times are tuff. And there are a lot of dud's out there that your competing against. Best advice it to expand your knowledge base. Get into other aspects of design. I laugh at some adds that list a dozen or more prerequisites, there's no way one person can master a dozen paths at one time. But if you know the basics and some fine details of each, it will enable you to be more competitive. Research your companies, learn something that will benefit them. Automation is a sure bet. Hit the road and go to seminars, webcasts, and anything else that is job related. companies love when they don't have to spend extra on you. Plus, all that can be tax deductable.

Cheers

Eight years experience is not "middle career", in my book.

-- "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." (Richard Feynman)

Just like 55 is not "middle aged".

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Maybe the OP meant 'Mid-Life Crisis'. He could always rent a Lotus for his next interview. ;)

Cheers